Government support sought

Housing charity Shelter has told the government to treble its spending on social housing and create a department for housing and communities.

The charity conducted a national investigation into the "housing crisis facing Britain’s children", hearing evidence from mothers, teachers, nurses and other professionals about how poor housing impacts children’s lives.

The report says housing is fundamental in shaping a child’s life and that the housing gap has a severe effect on social mobility.

Evidence of suicidal depression and self-harm amongst children living in bad housing was revealed in the study.

And it found that homeless children frequently miss out on school, are bullied and fall behind on their education, and that health problems such as skin diseases and respiratory disorders are caused by living in squalid conditions.

The investigation shows a widening gap in children's housing wealth between prosperous and poor areas.

And the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in England has more than doubled since 1997; almost one in 10 children are now living in overcrowded conditions; and homelessness is growing quicker in the countryside than in urban areas.

Shelter’s recommendations include trebling investment in new social housing, raising the level to 0.5 per cent of the GDP to meet the chronic shortage of affordable housing.

The charity also wants to see a Department for Housing and Communities set up by government, taking away the responsibility from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

More general recommendations for improvement of social housing include more utilisation of empty homes and reform of the Right to Buy; an improved private rented sector, with a new code of practice to improve standards; a modern definition of overcrowding; more family sized affordable homes; and an increase in council tax on second homes in rural areas.

Adam Sampson, director of Shelter, said: "The enormity of the challenge set out in this report has led Shelter to demand a more focused and publicly recognisable department for housing and communities.

We are also calling for a trebling of investment in social housing. It is only with this extra focus that housing will be given the priority it, and the children affected by it, deserve."